It’s not just cable TV subscribers, but WarnerMedia needs badly to simply what they are doing with their HBO brand. It seems to me like they are trying to put all their eggs in the HBO Max basket, which is a good package — if you can access it.
Aye, there’s the rub.
In case you didn’t already know, it’s about to get very confusing on Roku for HBO Go customers, and maybe even impossible when that is removed as of July 1, 2020. Even though I’ve read multiple articles, and consider myself fairly intelligent, I don’t completely understand what the heck is going on with HBO Go.
It’s going away, sort of, in place of HBO Max. HBO wants to just have one HBO which is HBO Max, but as we’ve already written about here several times: there is no HBO Max on Roku right now, nor is it on Amazon Fire. There is HBO Now, which is contains a fraction of the overall HBO Max content.
If you want to watch HBO Max on your TV, the simplest way to do it is to sign up directly and use Chromecast. I gave up that fight recently, and that’s where I ended. Others might not feel as compelled to go out and pay $29 for Chromecast, subscribe directly to streaming channels and pay for cable TV (wouldn’t blame anybody who thinks that way, btw).
It gets dicey if you already subscribe to HBO through your cable company. I’m feeling for you folks, because again, I don’t understand how you get the new HBO (HBO Max) without dropping HBO and just signing up directly and using Chromecast? You can read the article quoted below and maybe you’ll glean some kind of knowledge of what to do.
WarnerMedia will be replacing HBO NOW with a rebranded HBO App, but cable authentication isn’t supported. That means in order for cable customers (and those who subscribed via Roku) will have to access HBO content through their cable company’s platform. If you already created a HBO Max account, you may be able to use your log-in to access HBO Now.
Roku Customers Won’t Be Able to Access HBO App with Cable Credentials Starting July 31st
I think most of our readers here don’t have cable TV, but that’s just a guess. And at least a good percentage of those readers probably have at least one streaming account.
But that’s just a guess, as I don’t have any scientific data to back that up. The comments section below provides a chance for you to tell me if you still have cable TV. Anyway, if you do, and want to keep cable TV (I’m interested to hear why anybody does want to pay for that any more, but that’s not meant as any kind of diss), then what do you recommend to others who have cable TV and want to enjoy HBO Max?
This too many HBO brand conflicts needs to end. What would you tell your friends o do who want to watch HBO Max? I’m telling them, just get Chromecast and sign up directly.
Movies, Movies, Movies 
No cable for me, except for internet access. DirecTV customer since 1997. Last had local-channels-only cable TV service (Spectrum, uh, Time Warner, uh Charter) in about 2013 when the price was under $20 for just the locals.
I will keep DirecTV, and would keep cable TV if that’s what I had, (1) for live sports with in-house DVR, (2) because my spouse knows how to use it, (3) I’m not going to trust my viewing to the network cloud, and (4) I detest that every channel thinks I should navigate a unique app to watch their content, on top of the awful user interfaces implemented by the streaming services.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, my article fails to address satellite — Dish and DirectTV customers. Good point.
Once upon a time we had Direct TV. Got it for the NFL Sunday Ticket, or whatever it was called. That was an awesome program for football fans. Of all the various TV service options, we really liked it, but that, 24, and a scattered few other live TV programs were all we watched.
LikeLiked by 1 person